lauren helm's debut, level me up, has got a lot of things to like. the characters are great, i loved dex and his gaming buddies, as well as morgan, gia and ruby. the group scenes were some of the best parts of the book, even though i also really enjoyed morgan and dex together.

the problems is that these characters spend so much time in their heads analyzing and describing everything. it's excruciating at times. morgan gives us her entire detailed dating history and philosophy in one of the early chapters, and while this helps us understand her hang ups, this info dump wasn't the best way of getting this information to us.

this isn't a terribly long book, but because there was so much detailed thinking and so little action at times it felt interminable. i would have probably cut about 25% of the inner thoughts and comic con descriptions and added in more sex. i mean, it was fine, i don't mind when we stay entirely out of the bedroom. i just think that a little more bedroom action and less thinking would have done the book some good.

there were things i really liked about this, i just felt like it could have used some tighter editing. that being said, i'll still probably read the subsequent books in the series. i want to know more about simon and gia and ruby and link and bernadette and wade.

DNF @13%
I was at war with myself during the minutes it took for it to be my turn to sign her stuff. On one hand, I wanted my turn with her so I could talk to her. I was eager to speak with her-for her to become real to me...

Umm I honestly couldn't continue reading the book. Seriously? It hasn't even been 3 minutes since he'd seen her and he was eager for her to become real to him!? It doesn't make any sense whatsoever. The writing-style is a little cringe-worthy and the protagonist has this frustrating attitude. This book just isn't for me.

This book. This book GOT me! It totally Got ME! I LOVED it. If you are a gamer, a lover of books, a fan of television shows and movies like Star Wars, you will love this book too. It was fun. It made me laugh. I felt like I was part of the main character's social group. This book would be a good read for parents with teenagers that are into to these things and talk about Comic-Con. It would really give them some much-needed insight. The main character, Morgan, goes with a friend to her first Comic-Con and meets Dex. They are both instantly intrigued with one another and the book goes back and forth between their viewpoints as the story unfolds. The characters felt real and I found the story to be engaging and enjoyable.

Loved the fact that they had a girl gamer as men/males can be really sh!ty towards girls who are hardcore gamers. Great story, hoping there will be more in the future.
This is a voluntary review, I do not get paid for this.

I think that this is the first book by Lauren Helms. I liked it so much that when I tried to find more books by her to check out this was the only one listed. Way to go Lauren, you knocked it out of the park! Will be following her to see what comes next.